Gov sets 2025-26 timeline for public safety mobile broadband

The federal government expects to be in-market for a national public safety mobile broadband service sometime in the 2025-26 financial year.

After alerting at the end of last month that it would release more information about next steps in the long-running project, the government - through a taskforce set up at the start of 2023 - has initiated a request for information (RFI) process.

A national public safety mobile broadband or PSMB service has been on the cards since as far back as 2009, though received a boost following a 2022 review [pdf] that examined possible paths to progress it.

The intent is to give public safety agencies - “including fire, ambulance, police, emergency services and other government agencies” - mission-critical data and video services, to complement land mobile radio services that form the basis of communications.

“A national public safety mobile broadband capability will be the most significant uplift in 

communications capability for Australian public safety agencies in decades,” the government said in RFI documents released late last week.

“It will provide … personnel with fast, safe and secure data, video and voice communications and near instant access to data, images and information in live situations, emergencies and critical incidents. 

“It will [also] enable real time, data-rich analytics, situational awareness and cross-border communications - for example, between ground crews, aerial assets and incident control centres.”

The government intends to run a “two-staged market approach” to buy the PSMB service, first comprising the request for information, followed by a formal tender.

The information-gathering phase is “important for national planning purposes and will inform the Australian government and state and territory governments in their decision-making in relation to a national PSMB capability,” the documents state.

Telcos and other suppliers must participate in this stage in order to actually bid for the work later - currently “planned to be conducted in the 2025-26 financial year”.

In particular, the PSMB taskforce is hoping to understand how to set up an “national interoperable 4G communication network that supports data, video and voice services” for all agencies; how to integrate it with existing voice services and other networks; how to use it for “critical applications and data services such as real-time mapping, weather updates and situational awareness tools”; and what enhancement 5G coverage might provide.

The government indicated it is open to a range of different operating models, from a dedicated network to one that runs entirely on existing cellular infrastructure.